HMS Revenge

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Revenge was an English race-built galleon of 46 guns, built in 1577 and captured by the Spanish in 1591, sinking soon afterwards. She was the first of 13 English and Royal Navy ships to bear the name.

Revenge was built at a cost of £4,000 at the Royal Dockyard, Deptford in 1577 by Master Shipwright Mathew Baker. His race-built design was to usher in a new style of ship building that would revolutionise naval warfare for the next three hundred years. A comparatively small vessel, weighing about 400 tons, being about half the size of Henri Grâce à Dieu, Revenge was rated as a galleon.

The armament of ships of this period was fluid; guns might be added, removed or changed for different types for dozens of reasons. Revenge was particularly heavily armed during her last cruise: she carried 20 heavy demi-cannon, culverins and demi-culverins on her gun deck, where the sailors slept. On her upper decks were more demi-culverins, sakers, and a variety of light weapons, including swivel-mounted breech-loaders, called "fowlers" or "falcons".

In 1587, Sir Francis Drake sailed to the Spanish coast and destroyed much materiel that Philip II had accumulated in preparation for the Armada. In consequence, Spanish plans for the invasion of England were put off until the following year.

In early 1588, Drake moved his flag from Elizabeth Bonaventure to Revenge, which was considered[by whom?] to be the best by far of the new ships. On 29 July 1588 the Battle of Gravelines (named after a Flemish town near Calais), was concluded as one of the fiercest and most decisive battles engaged in during these years. At the outset of the conflict, Revenge proved worthy of her reputation. Following Revenge at the head of the line, the English fleet engaged their broadsides into the Spanish Armada,following a fire ships attack the night before which broke up the tight Spanish formation. Many Spanish vessels were severely damaged, although only a few sank or ran aground. Both sides fought until supplies of ammunition was running dangerously low, and the shattered Armada was forced to flee into the North Sea. The English fleet monitored them until they drew level with Edinburgh, and then returned to port, ending the threat of a Spanish invasion.

In 1589 Revenge again put to sea as Drake's flagship, in what was to be a failed attempt to invade Spanish-controlled Portugal. With the ship in an unseaworthy condition, and without any prizes to his credit Drake fell out of favour with Queen Elizabeth and was kept ashore until 1594.

In 1590 Revenge was commanded by Sir Martin Frobisher in an unsuccessful expedition along the coast of Spain to intercept the Spanish treasure fleet.

Revenge came to her end in a glorious but bizarre episode that has become a legend. In order to impede a Spanish naval recovery after the Armada, Sir John Hawkins proposed a blockade of the supply of treasure being acquired from the Spanish Empire in America by a constant naval patrol designed to intercept Spanish ships. Revenge was on such a patrol in the summer of 1591 under the command of Sir Richard Grenville.

The Spanish had dispatched a fleet of some 53 ships under Alonso de Bazán, having under his orders Generals Martín de Bertendona and Marcos de Aramburu. Intent upon the capture of the English at Flores in the northern Azores. In late August 1591 the Spanish fleet came upon the English while repairs to the ships caused the crews, many of whom were suffering an epidemic of fever, to be ashore. Most of the ships managed to slip away to sea. Grenville who had many sick men ashore decided to wait for them. When putting to sea he might have gone round the west of Corvo island, but he decided to go straight through the Spaniards, who were approaching from the eastward.

The battle began late on 31 August, when overwhelming force was immediately brought to bear upon the ship, which put up a gallant resistance. For some time he succeeded by skillful tactics in avoiding much of the enemy's fire, but they were all round him and gradually numbers began to tell. As one Spanish ship retired beaten, another took her place, and for fifteen hours the unequal contest continued. Attempts by the Spaniards to board were driven off. San Felipe, a vessel three times her size, tried to come alongside for the Spaniards to board her, along with Aramburu's San Cristóbal. After boarding Revenge, San Felipe was forced to break off. Seven men of the boarding party died, and the other three were rescued by San Bernabé, which grappled her shortly after. The Spanish also lost the galleon Ascensión and a smaller vessel by accident that night, after they collided with each other. Meanwhile, San Cristóbal, which had come to help San Felipe, rammed Revenge underneath her aftcastle, and some time later, Bertendona's San Bernabé battered the English warship with heavy fire, inflicting many casualties and severe damage. The English crew returned fire from the embrasures below deck. When morning broke on 1 September, Revenge lay with her masts shot away, six feet of water on the hold and only sixteen men left uninjured out of a crew of two hundred and fifty. She remained grappled by the galleons San Bernabé and San Cristóbal, the latter with her bow shattered by the ramming. The grappling manoeuvre of San Bernabé, which compelled the English gun crews to abandon their posts in order to fight off boarding parties, was decisive in securing the fate of the Revenge.

"Out-gunned, out-fought, and out-numbered fifty-three to one", when the end looked certain Grenville ordered Revenge to be sunk: "Sink me the ship, Master Gunner—sink her, split her in twain! Fall into the hands of God, not into the hands of Spain! ". His officers could not agree with this order and a surrender was agreed by which the lives of the officers and crew would be spared. After an assurance of proper conduct, and having held off dozens of Spanish ships, Revenge at last surrendered. The injured Grenville died of wounds two days later aboard the Spanish flagship.

The captured but heavily damaged Revenge never reached Spain, but was lost with her mixed prize-crew of 70 Spaniards and English captives, along with a large number of the Spanish ships in a dreadful storm off the Azores. The battle-damaged Revenge was cast upon a cliff next to the island off Terceira, where she broke up completely. Between 1592 and 1593, 14 guns of the Revenge were recovered by the Spanish from the site of the wreck. Other cannons were driven ashore years later by the tide, and the last weapons raised were salvaged as late as 1625.

Name: Revenge

Builder: Mathew Baker at Deptford Royal Dockyard

Cost: £4,000 (£1.15 million today)

Launched: 1577

Fate:

Captured 1 September 1591

Ran aground in the Azores soon afterward

General characteristics

Class and type: Race-built galleon

Tons burthen: 440 [1]

Length: 140 ft (43 m)[1]

Sail plan: Early full-rigged ship[1]

Complement: Approx. 260[1]

Armament:

Forty-six guns:

20 heavy guns on the gundeck

26 other pieces

USS Constitution

 Scale 1:600 Brand Glencoe (Kit Score 2/10)

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Constitution, byname Old Ironsides, warship renowned in American history. One of the first frigates built for the U.S. Navy, it was launched in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 21, 1797; it is the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat. (The HMS Victory is older [1765] but is preserved in a drydock at Portsmouth, England.)

The Constitution’s overall length is 204 feet (62 metres), its displacement is 2,200 tons, and its gun range is 1,200 yards (1,100 metres). The bolts fastening its timbers and copper sheathing on the bottom were made by the silversmith and patriot Paul Revere. Rated as a 44-gun frigate, it ordinarily carried more than 50 guns and a crew of some 450. Original cost of the vessel exceeded $300,000, including guns and equipment.

In the successful war against the Tripoli pirates (1801–05), the Constitution was Commodore Edward Preble’s flagship, and the treaty of peace was signed aboard it. During the War of 1812 it achieved an enduring place in American naval tradition. On August 19, 1812, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, it won a brilliant victory over the British frigate Guerriere. Tradition has it that during this encounter the American sailors, on seeing British shot failing to penetrate the oak sides of their ship, dubbed it “Old Ironsides.” Several other victories added to its fame.

When in 1830 the ship was condemned as unseaworthy and recommended for breaking up, public sentiment was aroused by Oliver Wendell Holmes’s poem “Old Ironsides.” The ship was preserved, its rebuilding was provided for in 1833, and in 1844 it began a circumnavigation of the globe. The Constitution was removed from active service in 1882, and in 1905 it was opened to the public in Boston Harbor. After a restoration (1927–31) the ship was recommissioned; although it did not sail under its own power, it called at 90 American ports on both coasts and was visited by more than 4.5 million people. Since 1934 it has been based at the Charlestown Navy Yard (now part of the Boston National Historic Park). In celebration of its bicentennial, the newly renovated Constitution sailed again in July 1997. It also sailed in August 2012 to mark the 200th anniversary of its victory over the Guerriere during the War of 1812.

Junk Hoei

 Scale 1:120 Brand Glencoe (Kit Score 4/10)

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A junk is a type of Chinese sailing ship with fully battened sails. There are two types of junk in China: Northern junk, which is developed from Chinese river boats,:20 and southern junk which is developed from Austronesian ship designs, examples of which have been trading with the Eastern Han dynasty since the 2nd century AD.:12–13 They continued to evolve in the later dynasties, and were predominantly used by Chinese traders throughout Southeast Asia. They were found, and in lesser numbers are still found, throughout Southeast Asia and India, but primarily in China. Found more broadly today is a growing number of modern recreational junk-rigged sailboats. Chinese junks referred to many types of coastal or river ships. They were usually cargo ships, pleasure boats, or houseboats. Historically they have ranged in size from small river and coastal vessels to large ocean going ships, and there are significant regional variations in the type of rig, however they all employ fully battened sails.

The term "junk" (Portuguese junco; Dutch jonk; and Spanish junco) was also used in the colonial period to refer to any large to medium-sized ships of the Austronesian cultures in Island Southeast Asia, with or without the junk rig. Examples include the Indonesian and Malaysian jong, the Philippine lanong, and the Maluku kora kora.

The largest junks ever built were possibly those of Admiral Zheng He, for his expeditions in the Indian Ocean (1405 to 1433), although this is disputed as no contemporary records of the sizes of Zheng He's ships are known. Instead the dimensions are based on Sanbao Taijian Xia Xiyang Ji Tongsu Yanyi (1597), a romanticized version of the voyages written by Luo Maodeng [zh] nearly two centuries later.[45] Maodeng's novel describes Zheng He's ships as follows:

Treasure ships, used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies (Nine-masted junks, claimed by the Ming Shi to be about 420 feet long and 180 feet wide).

Horse ships, carrying tribute goods and repair material for the fleet (Eight-masted junks, about 340 feet long and 140 feet wide)

Supply ships, containing food-staple for the crew (Seven-masted junks, about 260 feet long and 115 feet wide).

Troop transports (Six-masted junks, about 220 feet long and 83 feet wide).

Fuchuan warships (Five-masted junks, about 165 feet long).

Patrol boats (Eight-oared, about 120 feet long).

Water tankers, with 1 month's supply of fresh water.

Louise Levathes suggests that the actual length of the biggest treasure ships may have been between 390–408 feet (119–124 m) long and 160–166 feet (49–51 m) wide.[46] Modern scholars have argued on engineering grounds that it is highly unlikely that Zheng He's ship was 450 ft in length,[47]:1–4, 38 Guan Jincheng (1947) proposed a much more modest size of 20 zhang long by 2.4 zhang wide (204 ft by 25.5 ft or 62.2 m by 7.8 m)[48] while Xin Yuan'ou (2002) put them as 61–76 m (200–250 feet) in length.

Viking Ship of Leif Erickson

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Leif Erikson, Leiv Eiriksson or Leif Ericson (c. 970 – c. 1020) was a Norse explorer from Iceland. He is thought to have been the first known European to have set foot on continental North America (excluding Greenland), approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus. According to the sagas of Icelanders, he established a Norse settlement at Vinland, which is usually interpreted as being coastal North America. There is ongoing speculation that the settlement made by Leif and his crew corresponds to the remains of a Norse settlement found in Newfoundland, Canada, called L'Anse aux Meadows and which was occupied c. 1000.

Leif was the son of Erik the Red, the founder of the first Norse settlement in Greenland and of Thjodhild (Þjóðhildur), both of Norwegian origin. His place of birth is not known,[10] but he is assumed to have been born in Iceland, which had recently been colonized by Norsemen mainly from Norway. He grew up in the family estate Brattahlíð in the Eastern Settlement in Greenland. Leif had two known sons: Thorgils, born to noblewoman Thorgunna in the Hebrides; and Thorkell, who succeeded him as chieftain of the Greenland settlement.

Leif was the son of Erik the Red and his wife Thjodhild, and the grandson of Thorvald Ásvaldsson, and distant relative of Naddodd, who discovered Iceland. He was a Viking in the early days. His year of birth is most often given as c. 970 or c. 980. Though Leif's birthplace is not accounted for in the sagas, it is likely he was born in Iceland, where his parents met—probably somewhere on the edge of Breiðafjörður, and possibly at the farm Haukadal where Thjóðhild's family is said to have been based. Leif had two brothers, whose names were Thorsteinn and Thorvaldr, and a sister, Freydís.

Thorvald Asvaldsson was banished from Norway for manslaughter and went into exile in Iceland accompanied by young Erik. When Erik was banished from Iceland, he travelled further west to an area he named Greenland, where he established the first permanent settlement in 986.[16][18] Tyrker, one of Erik's thralls, had been specially trusted to keep in charge of Erik's children, as Leif later referred to him as his "foster father".

The Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders, both thought to have been written around 1200, contain different accounts of the voyages to Vinland. The only two known strictly historical mentions of Vinland are found in the work of Adam of Bremen c. 1075 and in the Book of Icelanders compiled c. 1122 by Ari the Wise. According to the Saga of Erik the Red, Leif apparently saw Vinland for the first time after being blown off course on his way to introduce Christianity to Greenland.

According to the Icelandic sagas, while in Vinland, Leif and his crew came into contact with "Red Indians" (as distinguished from the Inuit), whom they referred to as skrælingi, an archaic term for "wretches." According to these sagas, the encounters with the indigenous people were initially friendly with a strong trade relationship. Tensions rose when Leif's brother, Thorvald, was struck by an arrow in a fight with the skrælingi. He is famously known for pulling the arrow out, and poetically reciting the phrase, "This is a rich country we have found; there is plenty of fat around my entrails", upon which he dies.

According to a literal interpretation of Einar Haugen's translation of the two sagas in the book Voyages to Vinland, Leif was not the first European to discover America: he had heard the story of merchant Bjarni Herjólfsson who claimed to have sighted land to the west of Greenland after having been blown off course. Bjarni reportedly never made landfall there, however. Later, when travelling from Norway to Greenland, Leif was also blown off course, to a land that he did not expect to see, where he found "self-sown wheat fields and grapevines." He next rescued two men who were shipwrecked and went back to Greenland and Christianised the people there.

Leif then approached Bjarni, purchased his ship, gathered a crew of thirty-five men, and mounted an expedition towards the land Bjarni had described. His father Erik was set to join him but dropped out after he fell from his horse on his way to set sail, an incident he interpreted as a bad omen. Leif followed Bjarni's route in reverse and landed first in a rocky and desolate place he named Helluland (Flat-Rock Land; possibly Baffin Island or northern parts of Labrador). After venturing further by sea, he landed the second time in a forested place he named Markland (Forest Land; possibly near Cape Porcupine, Labrador). After two more days at sea, he landed on an island to the north (possibly Belle Isle), and then returned to the mainland, going past a cape on the north side (perhaps Cape Bauld).[29] They sailed to the west of this and landed in a verdant area with a mild climate and plentiful supplies of salmon. As winter approached, he decided to encamp there and sent out parties to explore the country. During one of these explorations, Tyrker discovered that the land was full of vines and grapes. Leif therefore named the land Vinland ('Wineland'). There, he and his crew built a small settlement, which was called Leifsbudir (Leif's Booths) by later visitors from Greenland.

After having wintered over in Vinland, Leif returned to Greenland in the spring with a cargo of grapes and timber. On the return voyage, he rescued an Icelandic castaway and his crew, earning him the nickname "Leif the Lucky".

Research done in the early 1960s by Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and his wife, archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad, identified a Norse site located at the northern tip of Newfoundland. It has been suggested that this site, known as L'Anse aux Meadows, is Leifsbúðir. The Ingstads demonstrated that Norsemen had reached America about 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Later archaeological evidence suggests that Vinland may have been the areas around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and that the L'Anse aux Meadows site was a ship repair station and waypoint for voyages there. That does not necessarily contradict the identification of L'Anse aux Meadows with Leifsbúðir since the two sagas appear to describe Vinland as a wider region which included several settlements. The Saga of Erik the Red mentions two other settlements in Vinland: a settlement called Straumfjǫrðr, which lay beyond Kjalarnes promontory and the Wonderstrands, and one called Hóp, which was located even farther south.

Leif's successful expedition in Vinland encouraged other Norsemen to also make the journey. The first apparent contact between the Norse and the indigenous people, who the Norse later referred to as skrælingjar, was made by his brother Thorvald, and resulted in conflict. Leif Erikson's brother is said to have had the first contact with the native population of North America which would come to be known as the skrælings. After capturing and killing eight of the natives, they were attacked at their beached ships, which they defended. The Norse were the first Europeans to colonize the Americas. In the end there were no permanent Norse settlements in Vinland, although sporadic voyages at least to Markland for forages, timber and trade possibly lasted for centuries. The casual tone of references to these areas may suggest that their discovery was not seen as particularly significant by contemporaries, or that it was assumed to be public knowledge, or both. Knowledge of the Vinland journeys spread around medieval Europe although to what extent is unclear; writers made mention of remote lands to the west, and notably the medieval chronicler Adam of Bremen directly mentions Vinland (c. 1075) based upon reports from the Danes. It has been suggested that the knowledge of Vinland might have been maintained in European seaports in the 15th century, and that Christopher Columbus, who claimed in a letter to have visited Iceland in 1477, could have heard stories of it.

Another instance of exchange between the continents occurred in 1420, when Inuit captives were taken to Scandinavia. Their kayaks were put on display in the Tromsø's cathedral.

Stories of Leif's journey to North America had a profound effect on the identity and self-perception of later Nordic Americans and Nordic immigrants to the United States. The first statue of Leif (by Anne Whitney) was erected in Boston in 1887 at the instigation of Eben Norton Horsford, who was among those who believed that Vinland could have been located on the Charles River or Cape Cod; not long after, another casting of Whitney's statue was erected in Milwaukee. A statue was also erected in Chicago in 1901, having been originally commissioned for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition to coincide with the arrival of the reconstructed Viking ship from Bergen, Norway. Another work of art made for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the painting Leiv Eiriksson oppdager Amerika by Christian Krohg, was in the possession of a Leif Erikson Memorial Association in Chicago before being given back to the National Gallery of Norway in 1900.

For the centenary of the first official immigration of Norwegians to America, President Calvin Coolidge stated at the 1925 Minnesota State Fair, to a crowd of 100,000 people, that Leif had indeed been the first European to discover America. Additional statues of him were erected at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul in 1949, near Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1956, and in downtown Seattle.

The Sagas do not give the exact date of Leif Erikson's landfall in America, but state only that it was in the fall of the year. At the suggestion of Christian A. Hoen, Edgerton, Wis., 9 October was settled upon, as that already was a historic date for Norwegians in America, the ship Restaurationen having arrived in New York Harbor on 9 October 1825 from Stavanger with the first organized party of Norwegian immigrants.

In 1924, a party of four consisting of a Swede, an Englishman, and two Americans attempted to emulate Erikson's voyage in an eponymous 40-foot vessel but were lost after reaching the west coast of Greenland.:267 On October 6, 2000 President Clinton issued Presidential Proclamation 7358, proclaiming Monday, October 9, 2000 as Leif Erikson Day.

In1929, the Wisconsin Legislature passed a bill to make 9 October "Leif Erikson Day" in the state. In 1964, the United States Congress authorized and requested the president to proclaim 9 October of each year as "Leif Erikson Day".

In 1930, a statue of Erikson was erected in the city center of Reykjavík, Iceland – currently situated in front of Hallgrímskirkja — as a gift from the United States to Iceland to commemorate the 1,000 year anniversary of Alþingi, the parliament of Iceland.

The Leif Erikson Awards, established 2015, are awarded annually by the Exploration Museum in Húsavík, Iceland. They are awarded for achievements in exploration and in the study of the history of exploration.

Replica Ship:

Leif Erikson is a Viking ship replica built to commemorate the voyage of Leif Erikson who is credited with reaching North America over one thousand years ago.

Leif Erikson was built at Levi Sterk Laymeyer plumming Korgen in Nordland, Norway during 1926 at the request of Gerhard Folgerø (1886-1948) for a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. The vessel is built of Norway Pine and constructed in the form of a modified knarr. The vessel is 42 feet long, has a 12 feet 9 inches beam and draws 4 feet of water. The elaborate dragon's head and tail were designed by architect Gerhard Johan Lilletvedt of Bergen.

The ship was invited to Duluth, Minnesota by Norwegian-American immigrant H. H. Borgen. The vessel set sail in 1926 from Bergen traveling to Labrador and then to Boston and New York City. It sailed through the Great Lakes to the western shores of Lake Superior. When Captain Folgerø and his crew landed at Duluth on June 23, 1927, they had traveled a distance of 6,700 miles, the greatest distance for a ship of its size in modern history.

Norwegian-American immigrant and Duluth businessman Bert Enger (1864-1931), along with the wife of his late business partner, Emil H. Olson (1881-1926), purchased the ship soon after the voyage and donated it to the City of Duluth. The ship was placed on display in Duluth's Lake Park, which was later named Leif Erikson Park.

Leif Erikson steadily deteriorated after years of neglect and vandalism, and by 1980 was in such poor condition that it was even considered that the ship be burned in the traditional Viking manner of putting a ship to rest. This suggestion inspired Emil Olson's grandson, Will Borg, to bring volunteers together and begin fundraising efforts to restore the ship. Through donations, festivals and other endeavors, the group raised $100,000. Boatbuilders began the restoration in 1991. With restoration nearly complete, the ship was reinstalled on display at the eastern end of Leif Erikson Park in Duluth, Minnesota in 2001. Due to further vandalism and degradation, the ship was again removed from the park by cranes and a flatbed trailer in 2013. "Leif Erikson" has been undergoing further restoration. Fundraising efforts aim to return it to the park in a new, secure display structure. The proposed building is designed by Krech Ojard & Associates and intended to be located near Leif Erikson Park at Superior Street and 10th Avenue East. Leif Erikson is presently housed at the Lafarge cement terminal.

Galeón San Martin

 Scale 1:350 Brand Zvezda (Kit score 8/10)

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São Martinho or San Martín (meaning Saint Martin), built as a Portuguese Navy galleon, became the flagship of Duke of Medina Sedonia, commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armada.

When the Kingdom of Portugal came under the rule of King Philip II of Spain (Philip I of Portugal), in 1580, the Portuguese had just finished building a large galleon named São Martinho. She was known by Castilians as San Martín. At the time of forming the Spanish Armada, São Martinho was found to be the best of the fleet and was chosen as the flagship of the Armada commander-in-chief, Duke of Medina Sidonia.

São Martinho had an overall length of about 180 feet with a beam of about 40 feet. She carried 48 heavy guns on two enclosed gun decks, plus multiple smaller weapons. According to a painting by Hendrik Cornelisz Vroom, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, São Martinho had three masts, two square-rigged masts and a lateen mizzen-mast. She was shown with a stern gallery and with the long beakhead characteristic of a galleon. The foremast was set forward of the forecastle.

The São Martinho and crew played a crucial role in defending the armada throughout the English Channel. An example was the fighting of July 31 to August 2, 1588, from the English coast to Calais, such as the rescue ordered by Medina Sidonia of the galleon São João, commanded by Juan Martinez de Recalde, that after repairs and trying to join the formation, was intercepted and faced alone 12 English galleons and race galleons. In the process, the São Martinho fought, virtually isolated, for one hour, 15 English galleons. Howard, however, opted to kept some distance, preventing further approach and giving up the fight in duels of gunfire from both sides.[1]

São Martinho had suffered already heavy damage in the battle of Gravelines in July 1588 when a group of English ships led by Sir Francis Drake in Revenge bore down upon her. With the assistance of the galleon São Mateus she escaped the attack and led the Armada back to Spain through a ferocious storm, where she had to be towed into port at Santander. Because of a storm, São Martinho had to take refuge at Laredo, where Medina Sidonia found the galleass Napolitana and other ships in harbor. The ship was full of sick crew and was itself in sad condition.

Type: Galleon

Length: 180 ft (55 m) (approx)

Beam: 40 ft (12 m) (approx)

Armament: 48 heavy guns

Carabela La Pinta

 Escala 1:144 Marca Lindberg (Kit score 6/10)

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La Pinta was the fastest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first transatlantic voyage in 1492. The New World was first sighted by Rodrigo de Triana aboard La Pinta on 12 October 1492. The owner of La Pinta was Cristóbal Quintero. The Quintero brothers were ship owners from Palos. The owner of the ship allowed Martín Alonso Pinzón to take over the ship so he could keep an eye on the ship.

La Pinta was a caravel-type vessel. By tradition Spanish ships were named after saints and usually given nicknames. Thus, La Pinta, like La Niña, was not the ship's actual name; La Niña's actual name was the Santa Clara. The Santa María's original nickname was La Gallega. The actual original name of La Pinta is unknown. The origin of the ship is disputed but is believed to have been built in Spain in the year 1441. She was later rebuilt for use by Christopher Columbus.

La Pinta was square rigged and smaller than Santa María. The ship displaced approximately 60 tons, with an estimated deck length of 17 meters (56 ft) and a width of 5.36 meters (17.6 ft).[1][2] The crew size was 26 men under Captain Martín Alonso Pinzón.

The other ships of the Columbus expedition were La Niña (real name Santa Clara) and Santa María. There are no known contemporary likenesses of Columbus's ships.

Santa María (also known as the Gallega) was the largest, of a type known as a carrack (carraca in Spanish), or by the Portuguese term nau. La Niña and La Pinta were smaller. They were called caravels, a name then given to the smallest three-masted vessels. Columbus once used the word for a vessel of forty tons, but it generally applied in Portuguese or Spanish use to a vessel ranging from 120 to 140 Spanish "toneles". This word represents a capacity about one-tenth larger than that expressed by the modern English "ton".

La Niña, La Pinta, and Santa María were not the largest ships in Europe at the time. They were small trade ships surpassed in size by ships like Great Michael, built in Scotland in 1511 with a length of 73.2 m (240 ft), and a crew of 300 sailors, 120 gunners, and up to 1,000 soldiers. Peter von Danzig of the Hanseatic League was built in 1462 and was 51 m (167 ft) long. Another large ship, the English carrack Grace Dieu, was built during the period 1420–1439, was 66.4 m (218 ft) long, and displaced between 1,400 tons and 2,750 tons. Ships built in Europe in the 15th century were designed to sail the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean coastlines. Columbus' smaller-sized ships were considered riskier on the open ocean than larger ships. This made it difficult to recruit crew members, and a small number were jailed prisoners given a light sentence if they would sail with Columbus.

Most of the commerce of the time was the coastal commerce of the Mediterranean, so it was better if ships did not draw much water. As it sailed, the fleet of Columbus consisted of Gallega (the Galician), which he changed to Santa María, La Pinta and La Niña. Of these the first two were about 130 tons. La Niña was much smaller, not more than 50 tons. One writer says that they were all without full decks, that is, that such decks as they had did not extend from stem to stern. Other authorities, however, speak as if La Niña only was an open vessel, and the two larger were decked. Columbus himself took command of Santa María, Martin Alonso Pinzon of La Pinta, and his brothers, Francis Martin and Vicente Yanez, of La Niña. The whole company in all three ships likely numbered 90 men (Santa Maria 40, La Nina 24, La Pinta 26) although some historians cite 120 men.

A replica of La Pinta was built by the Spanish government for the Columbian Naval Review of 1893. Along with replicas of Santa María and La Niña, it participated in the review.

Replicas are on display in two locations in Spain:

at the Wharf of the Caravels (Spanish: Muelle de las Carabelas) in Palos de la Frontera, Andalusia

in Baiona, Pontevedra, Galicia[6]

In 2008, a replica of La Pinta, although 15 feet (4.5 m) longer and 8 feet (2.4 m) wider than the original, was launched by the Christopher Columbus Foundation.[7] This ship weighs[draws?] 101 tons and often sails alongside an authentic replica of La Niña, which was launched in 1991.

Name: Unknown (see nickname)

Owner: Cristóbal Quintero and Gómez Rascón

Launched: 1441(?)

Nickname(s): La Pinta

General characteristics

Type: Caravel

Tons burthen: 60–70 tons

Length: 17 m (56 ft) on deck

Beam: 5.36 m (17.6 ft)

Draught: 2.31 m (7.6 ft)

Propulsion: sail

Complement: 26

La Niña

 Escala 1:100 Fabricante Occidental (Kit score 6/10)

Escala 1:144 Marca Lindberg (Score 6/10)

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La Niña fue una de las tres carabelas que usó Cristóbal Colón en su primer viaje al Nuevo Mundo en 1492, junto a la Pinta y la Santa María, que era la nao capitana (el navío que dirigía la expedición al ir en él Cristóbal Colón).​ Posteriormente atravesó el Atlántico en muchas expediciones descubridoras y exploradoras del nuevo continente.

a Niña fue mandada construir en 1488 por el armador moguereño Juan Niño en los antiguos astilleros del Puerto de Moguer. En su botadura sobre el Río Tinto, la nave recibió el nombre de Santa Clara en honor al Monasterio de Santa Clara de dicha localidad, aunque pasó a la posteridad con el nombre de su propietario.2​3​1​

La Niña partió, junto a la Pinta y la Santa María, al viaje descubridor el 3 de agosto de 1492 del puerto de Palos.

Su primitivo velamen latino fue transformado a velas cuadradas en la escala que la flotilla descubridora realizó en las Islas Canarias, y ya en la isla de La Española se le instaló, junto a sus palos de trinquete, mayor y contramesana, un nuevo palo de mesana. Las velas de la Niña carecían de rizos, por lo que no tenían un sistema de cabos que permitiera reducir la superficie en caso de fuerte viento. Las jarcias que sostenían los palos estaban enganchadas en los costados del buque. La carabela carecía de castillo de proa, mientras que el alcázar era bastante pequeño.

El 12 de octubre de 1492 el viaje arribó y descubrió el Nuevo mundo. Tras el encallamiento de la carabela Santa María el 25 de diciembre de 1492, la Niña se convirtió en la nave capitana de la expedición. Colón no tuvo otra elección, ya que la Pinta llevaba varias semanas explorando por su cuenta. Al mando de la Niña regresó Colón a Europa.

En el tornaviaje, el 14 de febrero de 1493, a la altura de las Islas Azores la Niña se cruzó con una fuerte tempestad que estuvo a punto de hacerla naufragar. En tan difícil trance, Cristóbal Colón, decidió echar en suerte la promesa de peregrinar en romería a cuatro templos cristianos (Voto colombino). La Niña se vio obligada a atracar en las Islas Azores, ubicadas a 850 millas de Portugal y controladas por este reino. Allí, parte de los hombres de Colón fueron arrestados y liberados posteriormente para, a causa de otro temporal, terminar atracando en Lisboa el 4 de marzo. Allí Colón se entrevistó con el rey Juan II de Portugal y le informó de su descubrimiento

Arribaron por fin de nuevo al puerto de Palos el 15 de marzo de 1493

El 25 de septiembre del mismo año la carabela la Niña formó parte de la flotilla del segundo viaje de Colón. Ya en las nuevas tierras, partió como capitana de un viaje de exploración en el que se descubrieron la costa sur de Cuba y Jamaica. El 30 de junio de 1494, durante el regreso de este viaje, la Niña tocó fondo y sufrió daños.

En el puerto de la Isabela, en la Española un ciclón hundió, en el verano de 1495, a todos los barcos amarrados a puerto, excepto a esta carabela, que aunque sufrió daños, fue el único navío que no naufragó. Para suplir las naves hundidas, construyeron una nueva carabela, siguiendo el modelo de la Niña, a la que denominaron Santa Cruz, conocida también como La India que fue el primer buque construido en América por los españoles.​ El 11 de junio de 1496 regresó a España con Colón a bordo, como nave capitana.

En los años posteriores, pasó a ser propiedad de la corona española, encomendase el gobierno de la Niña a Alonso Medel, quien realizó con la carabela varios viajes comerciales. En el transcurso de una de estas expediciones fue capturada por barcos corsarios franceses, algunos de cuyos tripulantes, naturales de El Puerto de Santa María, fueron sobornados con 30 ducados por Medel, y ayudaron al español a escapar de los corsarios.

En septiembre de 1497 participó en un viaje comercial a Roma, ciudad en la que había sido fletada por Marco de Baeza. En el tornaviaje fue asaltada y apresada por un corsario en el puerto de Cagliari. Tras su liberación, regresó de nuevo a las Indias participando en actividades mercantiles y de exploración de las islas y costas americanas.

El último viaje de la Niña fue una expedición a La Española, después de que el navío fuese reparado y calafateado en Palos, con un coste de 35.000 maravedíes. Apenas 35 días después de su partida, la Niña arribó a la actual Haití en uno de los viajes trasatlánticos más rápidos de la historia.

A partir de ese momento hubo más fiables de la suerte de la Niña, aunque una mención a una carabela Santa Clara, gobernada por Alonso Prieto en 1508, lleva a pensar que la carabela moguereña, una de las naves más famosas de la historia, navegó todavía unos años más entre el viejo y el nuevo continente.

Historial

Astillero astilleros del puerto de la Ribera

Tipo Carabela

Operador Juan Niño

Iniciado entre 1487 y 1490

Destino desconocido

Características generales

Desplazamiento entre 51 y 120 toneladas1​

Propulsión vela

Tripulación 20 hombres